Professor Lam is a Professor of Computer Science at the School of Computer Science and Engineering and Director of the Nanyang Technopreneurship Center, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He is concurrently serving as Director of the Strategic Centre for Research in Privacy-Preserving Technologies and Systems (SCRIPTS), and Director of NTU’s SPIRIT Smart Nation Research Centre. He served as the Program Chair (Secure Community) of the Graduate College of NTU 2017-2019. Professor Lam has been a Professor of the Tsinghua University, PR China (2002-2010) and a faculty member of the National University of Singapore and the University of London since 1990. He was a visiting scientist at the Isaac Newton Institute of the Cambridge University and a visiting professor at the European Institute for Systems Security. In 2018, Professor Lam founded TAU Express Pte Ltd as an NTU start-up upon successful completion of the Intelligent Case Retrieval System (ICRS) project, performed in collaboration with the Singapore Judiciary under the SPIRIT Smart Nation Research Centre. In 1997, he founded PrivyLink International Ltd, a spin-off company of the National University of Singapore, specializing in e-security technologies for homeland security and financial systems. In 2012, he co-founded Soda Pte Ltd which won the Most Innovative Start Up Award at the RSA 2015 Conference. In 1998, he received the Singapore Foundation Award from the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in recognition of his R&D achievement in Information Security in Singapore. Prof Lam received his B.Sc. (First Class Honours) from the University of London in 1987 and his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in 1990. His research interests include Distributed and Intelligent Systems, Multivariate Analysis for Behavior Analytics, Cyber- Physical System Security, Distributed Protocols for Blockchain, Biometric Cryptography, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity.
Title: Challenges of Digital Currency from the Perspective of Financial Crimes
Abstract:
The notion of digital currency was proposed few decades ago, but only experienced explosive growth in both asset size and economic impacts since the invention of Bitcoin in 2009. Due to the pervasiveness of the Cyberspace and maturity of the online business ecosystem, we witnessed a decade of innovation in financial technology including the development of alternative digital currencies, distributed ledger technologies and new payment methods that are challenging not only to traditional financial services but also to law enforcement capabilities in combating financial crimes. Without a doubt, new payment methods help facilitate trade and improve in consumer experience by simplifying (borderless) payments, improving inclusion and enabling microcredits. On the other hand, these innovations provide opportunities to support financial crimes, especially for money laundering and terrorist funding. In particular, innovative payment solutions with strong privacy and anonymity characteristics are leveraged by criminals to establish a service-based dark industry within a new virtual underground economy. In this talk, we’ll discuss some key features of digital currencies that contributed to their success and at the same time pose challenges to the integrity of FinTech from the perspective of financial crimes.
